Nine years ago, on a warm February evening in Chennai, O Panneerselvam launched what he rather grandly titled the ‘dharma yuddham’ (holy war). His target then was VK Sasikala, who he suspected was plotting to unseat him to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Panneerselvam’s claim to fame was that every time Jayalalithaa had to step aside as CM because of legal reasons, she had chosen the pliable MLA from Bodinayakkanur as her replacement.
Panneerselvam has now crossed the aisle and joined hands with the DMK, the party that was anathema to his political mentor. Only someone with a flexibility of an OPS – who was seen bending and touching the road on which Jayalalithaa’s vehicle stopped in April 2016 even as she remained seated inside her car – could have effected such a 180 degree turn. When he was CM, he was more famous for not occupying the chair on which Jayalalithaa used to sit. Even when Jayalalithaa was in hospital in 2016, her photograph was placed on the table and the CM’s chair was left empty, to signal that she was still ‘presiding’ over the government in spirit. Panneerselvam was the ultimate loyalist, who patented servility as a political virtue. One change that he may have to effect immediately would be to stop carrying the photograph of Jayalalithaa in his transparent white shirt pocket.
Given the political discord between the DMK and the AIADMK, the DMK would have been the last on his list of options. But with Edappadi Palaniswami firm in his resolve to keep OPS out of the AIADMK and the BJP no longer the friend he could depend on for support, OPS found himself without political friends. He flirted with the NDA, contesting as an independent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but once the BJP chose EPS over OPS, it was curtains for the tea stall owner-turned-politician.
But how does an entry into the DMK fold help Panneerselvam?
Truth be told, an opportunity to effect revenge. Nothing will make OPS happier than an opportunity to deny EPS a comeback to Fort St George in Chennai. With the DMK likely to let him contest from Bodinayakkanur, it will allow him to be the Thevar face of the DMK campaign in that part of southern Tamil Nadu. With his son OP Raveendranath, former MP from Theni, joining the DMK as well, OPS will hope for political sunshine for him in the party of the rising sun.
It is the DMK that would stand to gain by the entry of OPS. While OPS certainly is no longer the heavyweight politician he was under Jayalalithaa, the tag of a former chief minister and a Jayalalithaa loyalist, joining the party, is good optics and helps in the perception battle, particularly on the eve of an Assembly election. Several former AIADMK leaders like Senthil Balaji, EV Velu, PK Sekar Babu and S Reghupathy have joined the DMK in the past and gone to occupy plum posts in the DMK dispensation. OPS would hope he and his son get the same kind of respectful treatment.
Actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) would have been an option for OPS. The fact that OPS chose not to go the KA Sengottaiyan (AIADMK leader who was shown the door by Palaniswami) way and join the TVK, would be projected by the DMK as proof that Vijay’s party is not seen as a winning proposition. It helps the DMK project that even its worst critics have reconciled to its prima donna position in 2026 and, therefore, joining it.
Electorally, it also serves to shore up DMK’s chances in hitherto weak seats. It would also help guard against any erosion in its support base in the event of the Congress deciding to ditch it for the TVK. In the specific context of the Thevar-dominated southern Tamil Nadu, OPS will be expected to blunt the influence of fellow Thevar TTV Dhinakaran, whose AMMK is now part of the NDA. Another plus for the DMK is that OPS will take upon himself to attack EPS personally, making it a grudge match between the two former chief ministers.
The flip side is that OPS will find it difficult to live down the tag of a reject and someone who was once too close to the BJP. Expect his campaign rhetoric to focus more on Palaniswami and less on the BJP and the AIADMK.
Within the DMK, despite a directive from Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai, expect friction on the ground. The local DMK unit in Theni will not be too pleased with both father and son being parachuted into the party because most of the leaders have fought the OPS family for decades.
The AIADMK is likely to argue that the DMK is only inducting a leader who was shown the door by the party. EPS personally will see the development as a good riddance as it will also end the questions over divisions within the AIADMK.
(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author.)
